Monday, January 16, 2012

Smog affects flights at Kathmandu International Airport | Nepal

KATHMANDU, January 16: All international flights have severely been affected at Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu, due to poor visibility caused by a thick smog since Monday morning.

Till 1:30 pm, only two international flights--a Bahrain Airways flight and a Gulf Air flight--have landed a the airport, Bimlesh Karna, air traffic controller at TIA informed Republica, adding that there are four more international flights in queue for landing.

On a normal day, 10 international flights land at the country´s only international airport by noon. In the morning, the visibility for landing of any flight at the airport was almost nil. The condition has however been gradually improving, with visibility recorded 2.5 kilometers at 1 pm.

The minimum temperature in the capital was two degree Celsius and the maximum was four degree Celsius, making Monday morning one of the coldest of the season.